


Lyre

by milktea (pasteltakashi)



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Marauders Era (Harry Potter), Mild Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-22
Updated: 2020-03-22
Packaged: 2021-03-01 02:35:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,381
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23267836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pasteltakashi/pseuds/milktea
Summary: The night brings out bad times while the harp can soothe them.
Relationships: Severus Snape & Original Female Character(s)





	Lyre

It was easily the middle of the night and Lyra was plucking away on her harp strings. She hummed to herself, mimicking the melodic tune that she created. It would seem rude that she played music so late into the night especially in the common room, which wasn’t far from the dorms. However, such a slow tune would only serve as a lullaby to the other students if they heard it. She would stop if she learnt that it bothered the other students, she never wanted to be a pest. The common room was a safe place in her eyes, it was somewhere she could feel at home in this world that still seemed strange to her. The magical world came as a culture shock to her when she turned 11 and was accepted to Hogwarts, it was a world she had never known but was now intended to embrace it, as if she had always known it. Unfortunately, few people around her understood this, a majority of her peers were half-bloods or pure-bloods so they grew up in this world or at very least understood it.

In time she learnt about the wizarding world and came to embrace it more, although there were moments that magic threw her and she felt strange about it. Once she had watched a harp play by itself, nothing but magic strumming beautiful music. It was startling to see things like that, things she believed only humans were capable of. Moments like those also seemed to serve as a reminder of the power of magic and the endless possibilities that the wizarding world posed.

These strings were only to ever know the gentle plucking of human fingers, never being touched by magic. Lyra wanted to keep something pure, something untouched by magic. The sound of the harp lulled through the common room, surprisingly eliciting a sound for another in the common room. Lyra was caught off guard as a result, mistakenly panged a string leading to a sour note. She scrambled for her wand, casting lumos to allow her to catch a good look at the other. The light revealed a thin boy shrouded in a dark cloak that sat on his shoulders. He was grasping at his wrist with wide shocked eyes. The boy stumbled back as if he were a deer in the headlights, Lyra stood from her stool, getting a better look at the boy as she did so. The light from the wand created a low light on the boy’s features making his identity clear now.

“Severus…?” Lyra mewed softly.

Severus scowled, moving back once again. He wasn’t in the business of letting people near him much less help him. However, unfortunately he felt himself back against one of the room’s several arm-chairs. As much as he despised the fact, he was now stuck between her and the chair, at the mercy of Lyra at this very moment. His fists became balled and he grumbled, watching carefully as Lyra reached for his hand. There was a collection of mumbles cascading from his lips, all along the lines of ‘don’t touch me’. Pointedly she ignored his mumbles however, taking his hand off his wrist to expose whatever was being hidden. Her heart sank seeing the careful collecting of marks that were adorned by minuscule pools of blossoming blood. Mindlessly she seemed to gaze at them, trying to understand them despite the futility of such a task.

She wrapped her hand around his, not giving any slack as he tried to snatch his hand away. He kept his voice down as he protested her holding onto him, he didn’t want to be touched now or ever. Lyra shook her head, again not listening, she just wanted to help him now and if she listened, he would stop her. A stern tug got him to walk along with her, following her pace as she more or less dragged him along. The protests ceased to end as she walked him to the bathrooms, of course no matter which one they went in there would be an issue, but that was a secondary thought to Lyra right now. They entered the boy’s bathroom, approaching the ornate sink straight away.

The sound of running water echoed through the empty bathroom, Lyra took out her handkerchief and soaked it in the warm water. Carefully she cleaned his wrist, washing the blood away. On any other occasion she would have just used vulnera sanentur and healed it but then she knew that Severus could have done so himself and he had not; Lyra knew that there must be a reason for that. So, she just cleaned his arm before suggesting that they sneak to the hospital wing to steal some bandages. Severus agreed, be it with a tone of reluctance. He would have preferred to have been left alone tonight, for her to have not involved herself with him or his situation. Yet here he was, allowing her to wash his wrist and lead him to the hospital wing. Secretly, deep deep down, he valued the care she showed him, it was in his opinion that there were very few people that would have this for him.

Lyra and Severus headed to the hospital wing together, silence carrying across as they did so. There was obviously nothing to be said to one another right now and Lyra had no intention of forcing him to talk to her. They stayed relatively close together, it made it easier to evade getting caught if they were to suspect any teacher catching sight of them in the halls. By the time they had made it to the hospital wing they felt like they had been on some sort of great trek. Severus sat on one of the beds while Lyra raided what supplies they had. She was quick to land on a roll of bandages, whisking it back to a waiting Severus. Lyra had to handle his wrist again, Severus seemed unwilling to make this easy for her, nonetheless though she tentatively wrapped his wrist in the bandage. In the end it looked rather neat, it would be easily covered by a jumper as the bandages wrapped smoothly. Lyra watched as Severus seemed to inspect her work, his dim eyes scrutinising it slowly.

“You’ve done this before?” Severus said, feeling as if the answer to his question was obvious.

Lyra smiled, and gave him a gentle pat on the shoulder. Severus silently nodded and stood up from the bed, he seemed more comfortable in her presence. He figured that he could chalk it up to knowing that her helping wasn’t purely a do-gooder act but an act of understanding. For even a moment now he felt like someone could understand him. They left the hospital wing, Severus no longer needing to be dragged along.

It was another small trek back to the common room, both of them were visibly relieved to be back. Severus laid down on the longer sofa that sat in the room, he closed his eyes and sighed softly to himself. Lyra hadn’t anticipated him to just lay down in the common room, truthfully, she thought he’d want to return to his dorm room and be done with it all for tonight. Gingerly, she sat on the stool again, trying not to look at Severus too much. Lyra couldn’t think of what she wanted to play; she was getting caught in her own head. Swimming in all her thoughts, she caught Severus with one eye open looking her way. The second their eyes met Severus closed his eyes again, acting as if they weren’t open before. Lyra smiled to herself before just mindlessly plucking out a lullaby that seemed to be in her muscle memory. The notes flowed, filling the room to the brim with its dulcet tones.

The music never seemed to end; Lyra stifled all of her yawns as she didn’t want her audience to think she was bored. However, her audience wouldn’t be any the wiser to her yawns since it soon came to her attention that Severus had dozed off on the sofa, seemingly exhausted for the trials of this night. Lyra smiled to herself, quietly pleased that he was resting, enjoying a moment of escape.

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry if this isn't too good. This was just a comfort of sorts (?) that I wanted to share in the end.


End file.
